Special Report: Top Score

The booming resources sector has underpinned strong returns by listed Western Australian companies in WA Business News' fifth annual survey of total shareholder returns.

A diverse range of resource stocks, including coal, gold, iron ore and uranium, as well as non-resource stocks from the property and water treatment sectors, featured among Western Australia's top stocks in one-year returns.

While significant one-year returns are a positive sign for any business, maintaining these results year-in-year-out is a challenge of more significant proportions.

Uranium company Paladin Resources was the top performing Western Australian stock for the three years to June by a wide margin, with an average annual total shareholder return of 618 per cent.

Winemaker Evans & Tate, internet services provider iiNet, pharmaceutical manufacturer Chemeq and ticketing technology company ERG are some of the high-profile Western Australian companies that are laggards in the latest total shareholder return survey.

Resource stocks are not the only ones to be profiting from the burgeoning environment in Western Australia, with companies in the mining services and property sectors also welcoming significant returns.

Investors in listed Western Australian companies are usually focused on the potential for capital gains, but in a minority of cases there is potential to earn a tidy income from dividends.